recognised rule here, that if a man, in a row, should merely make a
_motion_ with his hand towards his pistol, his opponent is entitled to
shoot him first if he can. The consequence is, that _bloody_ quarrels
are very rare."

"Niver a taste do I care," cried Larry; "they may hang me tshoo times
over, but I'll prove the murder, an' nab the murderin' blackguard too."

"Have a care," said Ned; "you'll get yourself into a scrape."

"Make sure you are right before you act," added Maxton. Larry O'Neil
paid no attention to these warnings. "Are ye ready to go, Mister
McLeod?" said he, impatiently.

"Quite," replied the other.

"Then come along." And the two left the camp together, armed with their
rifles, knives, revolvers, and a shovel.

It was a dark night. Heavy clouds obscured the face of the sky, through
which only one or two stars struggled faintly, and rendered darkness
visible. The two men passed rapidly along the little footpath that led
from the colony to the more open country beyond. This gained, they
turned abruptly to the right, and, entering a narrow defile, proceeded
at a more cautious pace into the gloomy recesses of the mountains.

"Have a care, Larry O'Neil," whispered the Scotchman, as they advanced;
"the road is not so safe here, owing to a number of pits which have been
made by diggers after gold--they lie close to the edge of the path, and
are pretty deep."

"All right; I'm lookin' out," replied Larry, groping his way after his
comrade, at the base of a steep precipice.

"Here is the place," said McLeod, stopping and pushing aside the bushes
which lined the path. "Keep close to me--there is no road."

"Are ye sure o' the spot?" inquired Larry, in an undertone, while a
feeling of awe crept over him at the thought of being within a few yards
of a murdered man in such a dark, wild place.

"Quite sure. I have marked the trees. See there!" He pointed to a
white spot on the stem of a tree, where a chip had been cut off, and
close to which was a mound of earth and stones. This mound the two men
proceeded to break up, and in less than ten minutes they disentombed the
body from its shallow grave, and commenced to examine the fatal wound.
It was in an advanced state of decomposition, and they hurried the
process by the light of a bright solitary star, whose flickering rays
pierced through the overspreading branches and fell upon the ghastly
countenance of the murdered man.

While thus occu